Hunger Pains
by AzhureSapphire
Summary: Just a normal day of Hopscotch and Leapfrog to keep the younger duo entertained as the ever growing group traveled on their dangerous journey. So then why is Albel being such a jerk to little Peppita? Oh no! He did not make her cry!


Oh she was so mad!

"You wanna say that again?" She gritted out behind clenched teeth. Her palms were fisted so tight it was a wonder her nails hadn't cut through the skin of her palms.

Towering above her in all his smug glory and wearing a pleased smirk at getting the young girl in such a state of fury was beyond entertaining. Crimson eyes glowed, "You heard me, worm."

Beyond the fighting duo stood their small, well medium sized, group of misfits tense in these rare moments of Albel just being an ass towards the younger girl Peppita.

It was so surprising because the two hardly ever spoke to each other. The taller, deadlier man being far too busy staying away from everyone and Peppita just not much wanting to bother the man who could fillet her in her sleep.

So when Albel had actually spoken to the Fairy of Illusions it wasn't hard to figure out how this would end.

Peppita's foot moved as if to stomp out her vexations, wide browns eyes switching to a bright gold at the fury bubbling up inside her. 'Oh, how dare he!'

"I am not a kid!" She growled out actually stomping her foot as she glared up at the man twice her size.

His smile widened and prodded her further, "Your temper speaks for itself. Only a child would be throwing this kind of tantrum."

Fayt watched them warily and leaned up to Cliff, "Should we stop them?"

Cliff, arms folded across his chest smiled, "Kid, if you want to break that up, good luck!"

Fayt sighed and bowed his head in defeat pinching the bridge of his nose at this completely asinine argument, "Great."

A voice rang out from somewhere from his left and he bit back a groan as Sophia, who was more courageous than him, walked over. "You leave Peppita alone!"

Golden brown eyes normally so warm and friendly to the kind-hearted girl only grew fierce. Albel grinned spitefully at this turn of events.

And with a sad gusty sigh Peppita's temper cooled and a bitter sadness welled up that burned the back of her throat. She almost choked as tears welled up. 'Not here!'

Head bowed, she took off to somehwhere, anywhere but being in this spot.

She dimly heard Sophia call out to her and Nel's voice glaringly hot at Albel's treatment.

Only when she was safe in the knoll of a tree did she cry. The tears slid down, warm and salty on her face and her shoulders shook. Since the start of her journey she felt home sick.

She wanted her uncle, who performed small feats of magic to make her smile, her aunt's warm smile that would feel just like a hug that would soothe her frazzled nerves.

The rest of her family would be kind and cheer her up in their own way. Most of all she wanted to feel like she could fight her own battles.

Memories flew in her mind as she sat there, the grass itchy on her legs and the sun warm and bright under the shade of the tree did she really think about Albel's rude comments to her.

It had started as soon as they had awaken, Peppita and Roger had gone off ahead to play on the well worn dirt path leading to another's day journey before they hit the small town of Ruelle.

A good game of Leapfrog had made the trip less boring.

Which of course had stopped immediately after Albel's off-hand comment, "I think it fair to warn you that though you say they are not children I refuse to baby-sit them."

She had frozen, much to Roger's dismay and stared slack-jawed at the man who called himself The Wicked.

Though he had never shown her any proof of how mean he could be she had none-the-less steered clear of him after hearing some less than nice things about the long-haired warrior.

The comment stung, but the thing that made her furious, absolutely livid was that he was enjoying it. Enjoying saying something that more or less could be true, but Peppita liked to think of herself as an important member of their merry band.

And Fayt was such a nice guy. Real easy on the eyes.

Of course it was her temper that got the better of her which had led her to the childish display of a mere minutes ago.

How was she supposed to deal with this?

She shut her eyes and did some deep breathing, feeling calm after a good bout of frustrated crying.

Determined brown eyes shot open and she stood, brushing the dirt from her person.

Finally noticing the frantic calling of her name she walked off in their general direction.

"Peppita!" Sophia called out to her when she walked calmly from the bushes and enveloped her in a hug, "Thank goodness!" She pulled back to look at the small girl child, "Are you alright?"

Peppita smiled brightly, "Yeah, sure!" And she was, she would be.

Something caught her eye and she looked to see Albel leaning against a boulder looking disgusted at such a sweet display.

Peppita dredged up her courage and stepped out of Sophia's grasp and walked calmly in his direction.

She took no notice of his tense stance when she stopped within a foot of him and just regarded him for a moment before she spoke, "I forgive you even though I know you're not sorry."

Leaving him stupefied made her smile widen when she tossed him something. A bright apple that she had kept as a snack, "Here. You need this more than I do."

With that she walked off behind her she could hear Cliff's deep chuckles and Nel's snickering and Adray's booming laughs.

Fayt shook his head sharing a grin with Maria who like Sophia kept her eyes on Peppita and Albel consecutively.

Albel glared darkly at the apple as if it were to blame before dropping it to the ground silently cursing the girl's exceptional hearing.

Roger rolled his eyes when Peppita began walking with him, "Kids these days."

Peppita gave a long suffering sigh, "Tell me about it."

Then the two merrily played hop scotch.

Fin


End file.
